Monday, January 16, 2006

Road Title a Fizzer

So i went over to Adelaide with very little expectations for the National Road Race Championship......and it was just as well, otherwise I would be devastated as to how it panned out.

The day before our race began, I was happy to watch my good friend Kate (Katherine) Bates take out the women's race. I was wrapped for her and she was stoked to be able to take the jersey and wear it year round for her new German professional team. It was an awesome ride and an effort, not unlike Alexis Rhodes ride in the National Crit title, that inspired me for my coming race.

Still feeling some of the aches and pains from my crash 1 week earlier I was determined to give Will Walker my best effort to make sure that he finished well and hopefully took out the U23 division. The race was mared by a massive crash 5km in. The crash took out some of the big contenders for the crown and, as such, completely reconfigured the field and the development of the race. Although i was fortunate enough to miss the crash my race was soon in taters when we swang the hard right for the first hill and 3 pedal strokes in my chain broke. I got a spare bike from the neutral spare vehicle and quickly got about chasing. I bridged back to the main bunch some 8km later and then set about getting the saddle height on the bike right. Once i was comfortably back in the bunch and the saddle was adjusted a rider in front of me had a slip in his gears and i rode straight into the back of him. Somehow the saddle on the spare bike broke and after chasing again (this time out of the saddle) i had no luck in fixing it and my race came to an abrupt end, some 35km into the 175km race.

Fortunately for me, i am a track rider and my "real" national titles are still 3 weeks away, time enough to recover from the disappointment and have my body in tip top condition. As it turns out Will Walker didnt need any of my efforts to take the U23 jersey as he rode solo into the finish to take the win for the day, claiming both the senior and U23 gold medals......a fantastic effort from an extremely talented kid.

The weekend finished on even more of a low for me, with Amy and myself parting company. After nearly 3 years it was a very sad day, one where i finished out the day being consoled by my closest friends. I hope that as time passes the wounds will heal and the hurt will fade and we could possibly develop a close friendship....

So on that sad note concludes my weekly update.....hopefully my spirits will be slightly recovered over the coming week and will have something significant and exciting to talk about over the coming days.